Toy building element



Oct. 6, 1959 R. R. M. EHRMANN TOY BUILDING ELEMENT Filed Nov. 19, 1956 F/Gl.

Inventor R. R. M. EHRMANN M, Attorney:

TOY BURDIN G ELEMENT Ralph Rudolf Mathias Ehrmann, London, England, assignor to Nikocraft Limited, London, England, a British company Application November 19, 1956, Serial No. 622,844

Claims priority, application Great Britain November 24, 1955 Claims. (Cl. 46-25) The present invention relates to constructional toys of the type comprising blocks, tiles, bricks or the like adapted to be assembled together to form a model of a structure such as a wall, house or the like, and has for its chief object to provide a component for such a toy which is of simple and inexpensive form and can be readily assembled with any other of a set of components constituting a constructional toy.

According to the present invention there is provided a component for a constructional toy of the type described comprising a hollow box-like element rectangular in cross sectional form and having its base and one adjacent side wall open, at least one undercut or dovetail form tenon on the wall of the box-like element opposite to the open base and inwardly directed ribs together constituting a corresponding mortise on the oppositely facing end walls preferably at base level, whereby said component may be assembled and retained in assembled relationship with another component of the toy having similar formations solely by a relative sliding movement between said components.

In order that the present invention may be more clearly understood reference will now be had to the accompanying drawings illustrating the same by way of example and in which- Fig. l is a perspective view of one form of block or brick according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a similar view of another form of brick or block according to the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a similar view of a further form of block or brick according to the present invention, and

Fig. 4 is a similar View of still another form of block or brick according to the present invention.

In all the figures of the drawings the same reference numerals are used to designate corresponding parts.

In Figs. 1 and 2 each block or brick comprises a hollow box-like element designated generally by the reference numeral 1, rectangular in cross-sectional form and having a horizontal top Wall 5, a pair of oppositely disposed vertical side walls 7 and 8, and an end wall 10. As shown in Fig. 1, one undercut or dovetail form tenon 4 is provided on the upper surface of the top wall 5 of the element 1, that is to say, the wall thereof opposite the open base 2, and extends substantially wholly thereacross while inwardly directed ribs 6 together constituting a corresponding mortise are provided on the oppositely facing side walls 7 and 8 at base level. The block or brick shown in Fig. 2 is similar to that shown in Fig. 1 but is somewhat larger and is provided on its upper surface with two spaced tenons 4. The tenon or tenons 4 and the ribs 6 constituting the mortise are so formed and disposed that when two or more blocks or bricks are assembled together the outer surfaces of the walls thereof are flush with one another, and in order to ensure this a further rib 9 may be provided on the inner surface of the vertical side wall 10 of the element 1, which rib 9, when two or more blocks 01' bricks are assembled, engages the end face of the States Patent 0 2,907,131 Patented Oct. 6 1959 Figs. 3 and 4 show two other forms of blocks or bricks I according to the present invention. The blocks or bricks show in these figures are similar to those Figs. 1 and 2 respectively except that in each case .each tenon 4 is in the form of a rectangular stud undercut on all sides and located on the upper surface of the top wall 5 substantially as shown but which does not extend substantially wholly across the brick or block. The precise positioning of the stud-like tenon or tenons 4 depends on the precise form of the block or brick and in particular on the width of the ribs 6 and 9.

I claim:

1. A constructional toy comprising a hollow box-like element rectangular in cross section and having a pair of oppositely disposed vertical side walls, a horizontal top wall connected to said side walls and a vertical end wall connected to said top wall and to said side walls, the sides of the element opposite the said end wall and opposite to said top wall being open, at least one dovetail form rectangular tenon on the outer face of said top wall with at least three edges thereof spaced inwardly from the edges of said element and being parallel to the edges of said element, and a rib on the lower free edge of the inner face of each side wall and of said end wall, said ribs projecting into the hollow space bounded by said walls a distance equal to the distance said edges of said tenon are spaced from the edges of said element,

said ribs together constituting a mortise corresponding in size to said tenon, whereby said element member can be assembled and retained in assembled relationship with another similar element having similar formations solely by relative sliding movement between said components, and the vertical walls from which said ribs project inwardly will be aligned with the corresponding walls of the other similar element.

2. A constructional toy as claimed in claim 1 in which said element is cubic and said tenon has three edges spaced inwardly from and parallel to the edges of said element and has the fourth edge aligned with the edge of said element.

3. A constructional toy as claimed in claim 1 in in which said element is cubic and said tenon has four edges spaced inwardly from and parallel to the edges of said element.

4. A constructional toy as claimed in claim 1 in which said element is rectangular and said tenon is in two parts spaced from each other in the longitudinal direction of said rectangular element, and said tenon has three edges spaced inwardly from and parallel to the edges of said element and has the fourth edge aligned with the edge of said element.

5. A constructional toy as claimed in claim 1 in which said element is rectangular and said tenon is in two parts spaced from each other in the longitudinal direction of said rectangular element, and said tenon has four edges spaced inwardly from and parallel to the edges of said element.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

